Activists Inside Iran Request UN Support: Backing for Transitional Referendum

102 political and civil activists from Iran have sent an open letter to the UN Security Council demanding support for a “non-violent referendum” in Iran. They have described the Islamic Republic as a “kleptocratic” government. Do such open letters actually reach their intended audiences?

Political and civil activists inside Iran introduced themselves at the beginning of their letter to the UN Security Council as the “National Solidarity Movement for Achieving a Secular Democratic Constitution in Iran” and stated that, “in alignment with millions of Iranian citizens, in support of political, civil, dissident, women’s rights and ethnic activists,” they expect UN Security Council members to “support the will and desire of the Iranian people for a non-violent transition of power from the theocratic and kleptocratic government of the Islamic Republic and its constitution to a secular democratic constitution.”

To achieve this goal, they have proposed a national referendum.

The 102 signatories further stated in their letter that the Iranian nation has become “victim to the barbaric and inhumane behaviors of theocratic and kleptocratic rulers” and identified Ayatollah Khamenei as “directly responsible for ordering the suppression of peaceful protesting people.”

They wrote that security forces of the Islamic Republic killed more than 1,500 people and arrested over 10,000 during nationwide protests in November 2019.

Later in the letter, they stated: “We believe that the UN Security Council has the necessary moral capacity and commitment to advance such a peaceful transition in pursuit of justice for the continuous violation of human rights of the Iranian people in the shadow of safety, security and peaceful coexistence with other nations of the Middle East and the world.”

The authors of the open letter referenced the dismantling of South Africa’s apartheid system in the 1990s and the transitional referendum in Chile in 1978 in this regard. The United Nations had played a prominent role in both cases.

A Realistic or Symbolic Demand?

In February 2018, 15 political, civil and artistic activists, eight of whom lived in Iran, issued a statement emphasizing the irreformability of the Islamic Republic and called for a UN-supervised referendum. They also emphasized a “peaceful transition to a secular parliamentary democracy.”

One of the signatories of this statement was Kazem Kavousi. This sociologist, in response to the letter from 102 domestic activists, while stating that “every principled collective action in pursuit of the desires of the Iranian people should be supported,” expressed: “The fact that some people in Iran, given the severe repression that exists, have managed to publish a collective letter is a very valuable work.”

Kavousi emphasized in a conversation with Deutsche Welle that in Iran’s current situation, holding a referendum is not possible, but this should not prevent democratic activists and defenders of the people’s rights from expressing their demands.

According to this researcher based in Berlin, the Iranian people have the capability to hold a referendum and “will certainly achieve this demand one day. The request to the United Nations for supervision will only be to legitimize this referendum.”

When asked whether such open letters actually reach their intended audiences, Kavousi stated: “It depends on the activities of Iranians outside the country, especially human rights defenders. If they make efforts in this direction, the content of the letter will certainly reach the ears of the audience.”

Source: DW